The 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour is all but assured of a record race pace following stunning times set across four practice sessions today at Mount Panorama.

V8 Supercar refugee Maro Engel waited until just 10 minutes remained in the final practice session to bang in the fastest lap – his time of 2m04.4533s the fastest ever time recorded by a closed-roof car at the epic 6.213km circuit.

Engel will share the No. 1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3 racer with defending 12-hour champion Bernd Schneider and AMG regular Nico Bastian as the team searches for a rare back-to-back Bathurst double.

His time came at the very end of a hot day on the Mountain, a circuit that was simultaneously gaining rubber and loosing track temperature providing something of a ‘happy hour’ at the end of the day.

The second Erebus Mercedes ended the day second fastest with V8 Supercar star Will Davison setting his cars’ best lap soon after Engel set the day’s benchmark.

David Russell took Lamborghini to third position overall today, setting his cars’ fastest time in the first session of the day when temperatures were cooler.

Russell, along with Dutch Sportscar ace Peter Kox and car owner / driver Roger Lago, is actually entered in Class B following his teams’ last-minute decision to run the older model of their two Lamborghinis – dropping them to Class B.

Car owner Lago believes the change to the older model will actually benefit their outright hopes; the earlier specification car holding a straight-line speed advantage over the newer model.

A late-in-the-day run from Mika Salo saw one of the major pre-event favourites leap to fourth position overall; his Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 having a quiet day as Salo joined drivers Craig Lowndes, John Bowe and Peter Edwards in getting their car up to speed.

There were four brands represented in the top five in Friday’s combined times; the NISMO Athlete Global Team finishing fifth overall after all four drivers steering the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 posted impressive times.

Rick Kelly ended the opening session for Class A & B cars in third position before British racer Alex Buncombe set the time that saw ‘Godzilla’ atop the times of an on-track session at Mount Panorama for the first time in 22 years, during third practice.

The first of the Audi runners was the No. 3 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra in 8th position while the VIP Petfoods McLaren MP4 12-C was a strong 9th – making it six brands in the top ten. The Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 completed the top ten.

The Mark Griffith / Karl Reindler / Daniel Gaunt Ginetta G50 topped Class C (GT4), just 0.2s ahead of the Motionsport Lotus Exige driven today by Gordon Shedden, Pete Story and Ben Gower.

A strong day for the Daytona Sportscar resulted in first in Class D (invitational 3000cc+) while Luke Youlden was the quickest of the professional drivers steering the three speedy little Fiat Abarth 500s entered in the race this weekend.

The first true track test of the Aussie designed and built MARC Focus endurance racers resulted in a promising performance from all three cars – their lap times dropping across the day as the drivers and team learned the cars.

The No. 70 Crimsafe entry steered by Grant Denyer, Andrew Miedecke, Adam Gowans and Gary Jacobsen ended up the quickest of the trio, and 27th outright, with the promise of more pace to come tomorrow.

A day of record pace was also filled with the usual Bathurst drama, the Mountain claiming three high profile victims today.

The Vicious Rumour racing Ferrari 458 has withdrawn from the Event following contact at the top of the Mountain in the opening practice session – another car hitting the bright red Ferrari and sending them into the barriers.

The damage was too significant for the car to continue this weekend, ensuring drivers Tony D’Alberto, Dean Canto, Renato Loberto and Tony Defelice will have a weekend off instead of challenging for an anticipated podium finish.

Practice three claimed the Motorsport Services Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Car driven by David Glasson whilst another Class A car found the fence in the third session – French driver Harold Primat crashing the HTP Motorsport Mercedes Benz SLS AMG heavily at McPhillamy Park half-way through the session.

The current status of the car is unknown ahead of qualifying tomorrow.

Saturday’s feature will be the battle for the inaugural Allan Simonsen Pole Position trophy, three qualifying sessions in store to set the grid for Sunday’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.